Hidden Behind a Smile
by Elfera
Summary: It all started when his mother died.


**Not going to lie, I haven't read an Animorphs book since state speech. (And that was only because the prose piece I did was from an Animorphs book. I still stand by the idea that I was robbed.)**

 **So… Hopefully this will turn out alright. I just had a sudden desire to write.**

* * *

It started when his mother died.

He was young when it happened. That seemed to be the one word that summed their existence in its tragedy. Young.

He still remembered his mother's smile, the way she wrapped her arms around his tiny form as she spoke. "I'll only be out for a little while." She pulled back, running a hand through Marco's hair.

Something flashed in her eyes, the warmness breaking for a second, but it was gone before Marco could figure out what the emotion was.

She left with a quick goodbye and an "I love you," shutting the door behind her.

Never to open it again.

When he heard what happened Marco was full of so many intense emotions, that he didn't know how to control. His mind was on autopilot, to the point where he didn't exactly know what he was doing. All he knew was that his mother _lied_ to him. She had _promised_ that she would be home soon.

She was his _mother_ , what kind of mother lied to their own child like that?

When he voiced his opinion all adults would tell him that she didn't know that it wasn't a lie. That it wasn't her fault. He finally was able to accept that his mother didn't mean to hurt him.

Didn't mean to lie.

Years later, he found out that she did, in fact, mean to lie.

She knew she was never coming back from that trip.

Nobody liked a kid who cried, who wallowed in self pity. When his mother died, Marco became that type of kid. His only solace was Jake, who was the only one who didn't leave for someone more fun than a kid who was grieving.

The only one handling his mother's death worse than him, was Marco's father.

He seemed depressed, always laying on their couch. Staring up at the ceiling with dead eyes. He quit his job, and began drinking.

It was when they lost their house, that Marco decided it was time for a change.

Leaving his childhood home was tough. At first Marco was angry at his father.

After all, it was _his_ job to look after him. Didn't he understand that Marco needed his father more than anything?

Marco didn't remember when it first happened. Maybe it was a witty remark about the TV dinners, or a casual comment about some stupid reality TV show. But that smile, a smile that Marco hadn't seen since his his mother walked out those doors, appeared on his father's face.

After that, it was almost second nature to him.

He would go through life making hilarious comments, and puns that would earn him a smack on the arm from Jake.

Suddenly, his mother's death hurt… Less. It became a part of him, a mask to hide behind. Nobody would expect that the one laughing would be the one hurting the most.

The next few years went by, each day getting easier to hide his pain with a smile.

That all went crashing down the night they went through the construction site.

He didn't want to do it, the only thing seemed like some sort of crazy dream. To this day, he still doesn't understand why he touched that cube.

Why he accepted the responsibility.

Marco knew that he had to stay alive, that he was the only thing keeping his father alive. And yet he accepted a curse that could very well get him killed.

Not only that, but he gave this curse a name.

Animorphs.

As time went on, the more Marco wanted out. Who wouldn't? So many things went wrong. Tom was discovered to be a controlled, Tobias got trapped in a hawk morph, the nightmares, the horror. The terror he felt that day at sea, when he had nearly been bit in two by that shark.

He wanted… No. He _needed_ out.

When he expressed this desire, he was met with mixed feelings from the others. But in the end, it was decided that he could leave.

And he nearly did.

Until he found her again.

His mother.

Seeing her there, standing tall, alive, hurt. But knowing that his mother was a slave. Her free will taken away by an alien. That was what made his decide to stay.

Even when he thought she had died, he knew he needed to stay.

To help out the families like his, who lost their loved ones to the Yeerks.

Staying turned out to be the thing that was best for them all. The others needed him, they needed his humor to keep them going.

This life was horrible, but the laughs he gave helped them stay sane.

Helped them stay human.

And, in a way, hearing their lives was exactly what he needed to stay human himself.


End file.
